Disclaimer: I do not own Honkai Star Rail
Well let's see where we go with this, I hope you enjoy!
Reincarnation sucked.
Plain and simple.
You were probably thinking that after one got the 'miracle' of reincarnation they would get to be this badass main character in some anime universe where they get to save the world and get some hot person to fall in love with them and that would lead to a happy ending.
Well the reality was that none of that happened to me…
Like at all.
You see it all started after my unfortunate death in my old life where I was then somehow reborn with the same name that I had in my previous life, Michael.
I even had the same looks as my old life. Lightly ash blonde hair with the most generic pair of brown eyes. I was the epitome of what a regular human should look like.
This new reality that I was born into was every person who's ever dreamed of reincarnation would wish for. A vast giant reality that spanned multiple universes with different and unique lifeforms and cultures. One would think that I'd be born into something interesting.
Yet despite all of that I just so happened to be reborn as a regular old human on a planet that was pretty much the same as Earth but just with a different name and more technologically advanced.
My new life growing up was pretty much the same as my old life. Born into a middle class family with a father and mother, went to school, made friends and all that stuff, graduated from college, and proceeded to join the workforce to make a living for myself.
Pretty generic if I say so myself.
No destined fate that I was born with, no ancient enemy that I was reborn to fight against.
The job I took wasn't even different from the one I had in my old life as I had taken a career in resource management.
Now I know what you're thinking, Michael you're in a sci-fi universe and you decide to take the most boring career that has to exist.
Well what you don't know is that this sci-fi universe was ten times more dangerous than life on old Earth. Weapons that could scorch entire forests within an hour, organizations that had armies that could subjugate galaxies within months, and that wasn't even mentioning the powerful creatures that belonged in fantasy genres that also called the universe home.
One wrong step and this new life of mine was over.
So yeah I chose the boring office job.
It also helped that I was damn good at my job in my old life, and it showed as I was climbing the corporate ladder quickly. So quickly in fact that my skills landed me a job at Herta's Space Station's Resource Department.
The benefits of working on a space station, aside from the obvious of getting to work in space, were so damn good that switching careers would just be plain stupid. I mean the amount of benefits I got was so damn good!
So while reincarnation wasn't exactly what I had expected it to be, I wasn't complaining with what I had now.
Walking down the corridors of Herta's Space Station, I yawned into my free hand while the other hand held a folder of papers in it. Walking through the station I was greeted by fellow colleagues and researchers, who now knew me after a year of being transferred to the space station.
Swiping my ID on a door scanner, I walked into the Department of Security and made my way to the chief's station, where a young skin tanned teenager was reading through something on a tablet while a petite white furred dog patiently sat at the foot of the desk.
"Evening Arlan," I greeted as I walked up to his desk. "Here's the manifest of the ship that just docked you wanted."
It was definitely strange that the head of the security of this space station was a young man, younger than me by like two years in my case, but no one who worked on this station put Arlan's age against him.
If anything his young age made him someone to be looked up to.
Though if you asked me I think he was the head of security because the absolute trust Asta had in him was unmatched by anyone else and she would trust no one else to keep this station safe.
"Ah Michael, thanks for giving me this." The young head of the Security Department thanked me as I handed him the paper folder and opened it up to begin looking over all the documents.
Was it definitely old-fashioned to have paper documents when electronic documents are literally the norm for everywhere in the universe? Probably, but you see the neat thing about paper documents that can't get hacked into to be tampered.
And as one of the main managers of the Resource Department it made my work all the more harder to mess with when you couldn't just hack into it with an electronic device.
"Anything for our noble security chief." I saluted with a grin, making Arlan sigh.
He had made it a point that everyone could refer to him by his name without his title as he found being called 'chief' quite a bit uncomfortable.
I on the other hand used it as a way to tease him and lighten him up. He was still a young teenager after all, he didn't have to act all stoic to try and gain respect for his station.
"So anything special happened today?" I asked in boredom as I crouched down and went to pet Peppy, who had perked up at the arrival of my presence.
The white fluffy dog was an oddity on the Space Station as his owner was none other than Asta, the head researcher and de facto boss of everyone who worked at the station.
And whenever the dog wasn't with her, they were with Arlan.
The pink haired head researcher, despite being so young compared to the demographics that made up the station's population, was a boss that had my respect. She handled herself with an air that exuded authority and didn't take any nonsense that the older staff would try to slip by her.
She ran a very tight ship, or station in this case, and it showed.
"That's a good boy," I said as I placed my hand out for the dog. "Paw."
The dog barked before they placed their paw on my open palm, making me grin as I pet the dog on the head for a job well done.
"Good boy," I smiled before I reached into my pocket and pulled out a treat. The white dog instantly perked up at the sight of the treat, wagging their tail as they awaited the reward.
I handed the treat to the dog and stood back up, looking to see Arlan giving me a rare smile as he shook his head at me.
"Should I be the one to tell Asta that you're the reason why Peppy has gained some weight?" He quipped.
"You can't prove anything," I said back with a smirk, not acknowledging the fact that Peppy was currently trying to get my attention for another delicious treat by pawing my leg. "Besides, don't think I don't see you feeding Peppy some treats as well."
Arlan tried to hide his young age but there were times where it showed, and Peppy was very good at bringing that side out.
"If you say so," Arlan shook his head with a small smile. The young teenager was nice to hang out with on the station, dare I say one of the few friends I made while working here on the station.
"Well if that's all I'll be heading back now, I still have some things I need to finish." I turned on my heel and was about to walk away from Arlan's station to get back to my duties.
"Oh Michael before you go," The young tanned man called out to me, stopping me in my tracks as I turned to face him. "Asta wanted me to inform you of something that's happening tomorrow."
"The Astral Express is docking at the station tomorrow and Asta wants you to be with her when she receives them." He informed me.
"The Astral Express…" I mumbled at why that name sounded so familiar. After some thinking it came to me then as I remembered a particular big order of supplies that I had just recently processed.
"Ah you mean that train of Akivili, Aeon of the Trailblaze, right?" I asked to which Arlan nodded in confirmation.
One of the biggest shocks that came to me in this new life was the fact that gods, or Aeons as they were called, actually existed.
And no I'm not talking about Greek Gods or even the Christianity God but they actually existed as all powerful deities and were a huge part of how this universe functioned.
How they presided over the universe was quite complicated but in a nutshell each Aeon resided over a 'path' that encapsulated some sort of concept and depending on how strong that particular Aeon was the stronger their corresponding path was and how it interacted with the universe.
Take for example the organization that funded a good chunk of Herta's Space Station…
The Interastral Peace Organization, or for short the IPC.
The IPC was an organization dedicated to the worship of Qlipoth, the Amber Lord and Aeon of Preservation. The organization was once founded by a group of faithfuls that wanted a logistical hub to help transport supplies to build infrastructure on different worlds, creating civilizations that embodied the will of Preservation.
Over time the logistical hub transformed into a massive inter-galactic organization that had its influence reach even the farthest corners of the universe.
Some could argue that the pan-intergalactic organization had long lost the reason they were founded in the first place but the others argued if Qlipoth disapproved they would have cast judgment on them by now.
My thoughts on the whole situation was that Qlipoth probably didn't even care what the IPC did. I found it quite hard to wrap my head around the idea that this all-powerful being would even deign to shift its attention to us puny mortals.
Arlan nodded. "The very same. Since you're technically the Head of the Resource Department Asta wants you to be there when they sign off on the supplies they ordered."
"Will do boss," I salute, not bothering to correct him on what my actual job position is.
While my official job was being a manager of the Resource Department, as of recently I technically took over the responsibilities of the head of the Resource Department. Our actual head, Richard, was pretty old and nearing retirement. He was more often than not in the hospital bay getting check-ups for his failing health, and thus unable to fulfill his job, which meant that I had to fill in his shoes.
I wouldn't argue when he eventually did retire and was offered the position but I wasn't about to make a bid for the spot just cause he was old and in bad health. Someone desperately trying to climb the corporate ladder might, but as someone wanting to take it easy that was not me.
Walking back to my office in the Resource Department and sitting at my desk, I got back to accomplishing the same old tasks that I've been doing in this life and my last one.
Keeping up to date with all of our supplies in the space station, making sure that we aren't about to run out of something, ordering any resources that any of the researchers requested for their projects, making sure Peppy's super premium treats were stocked, and most importantly…
Making sure Asta had triple checked the list of items that Madam Herta wanted to order for whatever projects she was cooking up.
While the space station served as a place of cutting edge research for scientists and researchers, it ultimately served as the namesake's main research facility. Any projects that she needed to get done, they were done on the station.
Yet despite having the station named after her, Herta was usually not present on the space station. She was off who knows where while her puppets, that were fashioned to look like her younger self, served as her liaisons to the space station and whatever side projects she was working on.
I've never actually met the real Herta, only her puppets, but if I were to describe her with one word it would be…
Blunt.
Her social skills were practically non-existent and it made having any decent conversation with her pretty much impossible unless it was regarding one of her projects.
Actually now that I think about it I think only the other Genius Society members had ever got the chance to meet the real Herta. I've only had the pleasure of meeting only one other Genius Society Member, Screwllum, and even if he was a robot he was actually pretty cool to talk with.
At least he(or was I supposed to refer to the Genius Society member as an 'it' considering they were a robot?) actually knew what a budget was, unlike Herta who treated it as more of a suggestion than a limit.
If it wasn't for Asta's excellent job at managing the station, I was confident this place would've gone into bankruptcy long ago.
After spending some hours making sure everything was up to date I turned in for that night. Say what I may about the space station, they sure knew how to treat their employees as my room was as furbished as a 5-star hotel.
Tucking into bed and bringing the luxurious silken sheets over my body, I allowed myself to fall into a nice peaceful slumber as my last thoughts would be of what the next day would bring.
That tomorrow would just be like the rest…
Just another regular day.
"You look well Michael." Asta commented with a wry smile as I walked up to her on the railway station of the space station.
"Had a rough sleep," I yawned tiredly, covering my mouth with one hand and using the other hand to rub the tiredness from my eyes.
Despite sleeping early I had woken 15 minutes past my alarm and tired as shit. Ever experienced that one night of sleep where your body just can't seem to fall asleep? Usually this sort of thing happened when something important was going to happen but that couldn't be true.
After all this was just going to be another regular day on the space station.
"If I'm not mistaken the Head of the Resource Department can delegate other managers to this task." The pink haired astrologist remarked off-handedly. "Richard did it all the time."
I internally sighed at the underlying message she was conveying. Asta had been bugging me to take the position of Head of the Resource Department when the current Head had informed her that he would soon be retiring.
I was surprised to know that I was her first pick for Richard's replacement but I politely declined her.
Experience had been my excuse as technically I hadn't had enough years required to take the position as Head of the Resource Department. Was I telling the truth? Technically I was but Asta didn't need to know that as I was fine with where my career was.
It didn't help that Arlan supported Asta's choice and all but told me that I should take the position.
I needed to find some way to take me out of the running for the Head position whilst also not risking my own job. My old life had been me desperately clawing my way up the corporate ladder, to try and be at the very top.
A lifestyle looking back that didn't really allow me to enjoy all that life had to offer me. Now in this new life I was determined not to repeat the same mistakes.
My internal conversation was cut short when the Astral Express began to pull into the Space Station.
The Express was an actual train, the whole package with the locomotive and cabins. I wasn't even sure how this thing got through the galaxies with its train design but all I knew was that it was all possible through Akivili, Aeon of the Trailblaze.
As the train docked into the space station three people disembarked from it.
The lead person of the trio was a woman with fiery red hair and golden amber eyes. Wearing a white dress with a black and gold coat hanging from her shoulders, she commanded an air of respect and authority that not even Asta possessed.
Flanking the sides of the red haired woman was a male and female teenager. The male was dressed in white and green jacket with gray pants that seemed reminiscent of the attire one would find in the Xianshou Alliance.
And the female teenager certainly stood out, with pink hair and a blue and pink dress that complimented her equally pink hair color.
The trio certainly stood out, something that I expected from the renowned crew of the Astral Express.
"Asta, it's been too long," The red haired woman smiled as she shook hands with Asta.
"Always a pleasure to see you again, Himeko." Asta warmly smiled back as the two seeming friends reconnected with each other.
"Allow me to introduce our two newest members of the Astral Express. This is Dan Heng and March 7th." She said as she motioned to the two teenagers on both sides of her.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," Dang Heng greeted with a small nod of his head.
"It's nice to meet you Asta!" March's bubbly greeting contrasted Dan Heng's.
"It's a pleasure to meet you as well as Dan Heng and March 7th." Asta gave a small professional curtsy to both of them. "I am Asta, Lead Researcher of Herta's Space Station and its subsequent caretaker. I hope you enjoy your time here on the station."
"With me is one of my colleagues who helps run the space station." She motioned to me, which was my que to introduce myself.
"Michael," I introduced myself with a lazy smile and a wave of my hand. "Just a simple manager of the Resources Department of Herta's Space Station. No one of importance here."
"I should just force you to become the Head of the department at this point," Murmured Asta as she gave me a light glare. "You practically do the work of Richard and he's all but ready to hand you the position so he can head off to retirement."
"Unless the old man himself hands me his I'm fine with where I am." I defended as I raised my arms up. "Besides I like being the Manager, I can have almost all the benefits that Richard has but minus all the stressful work that comes with it. Don't think I forgot how you grilled the Head of Human Resources last month."
My words get a chuckle from Himeko, an exasperated shake of the head from Dan Heng, and open laughter from March. Asta on the other hand merely glowered at me, her eyes promising future retribution that I knew she would exact on me.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Michael," Himeko greeted back, with March and Dan Heng following with their own greetings that I returned.
Before anyone else could do something I stepped forward and handed Himeko a tablet. "Miss Himeko, if you would sign here our crews can begin resupplying the Astral Express."
Himeko took the tablet from me and signed her name on the resupply order. Now with her signature the workers in the supply bay could now begin to load up the Astral Express' supplies.
"Now that I have your signature, I will be leaving to ensure the swift requisition of your supplies," I cordially bowed to the Trailblazers. That was the whole reason I was even here in the first place, to ensure the successful signing of the order. Now that my part was done I could leave Asta to treat with the Astral Express.
"Now if you can excuse me-,"
"Actually Michael," The red haired Trailblazer interrupted me before I could leave. "I was hoping you could give Dan Heng and March a tour of the space station. It's their first time here and I was hoping to speak with Asta about some changes to our supply contract."
I looked over to Asta with pleading eyes, begging her to save me being a tour guide for the space station. That was like the worst job someone could get stuck with that wasn't either the Head Researcher or one of Herta's devoted researchers.
In response Asta merely smirked, her eyes glinting with amusement. It didn't take a genius to realize that this was revenge for my earlier comment. Knowing my fate was sealed I pouted at her before changing expressions into that of resignation.
Well if she wanted to play like this then two could play that game.
"Well then kiddos," I grinned as I directed my attention to Dan Heng and March 7th. Was it weird to call them that when I looked to be only a few years older than them? Maybe but no one was making any weird faces so let's roll with it. "Let me give you a tour of Herta's Space Station, or as Asta likes to call it, 'Herta's Toy Box'!"
"Michael!" Asta cried out in indignation at me calling her out.
"And let's get going before my boss decides to fire me." I grin as I lead the duo away from Asta and into the Space Station, ignoring my boss's shouts for me to take back my words.
"You know when Himeko said this space station was a place of wonder I was expecting…a lot more." March 7th commented boredly as we exited the elevator to a new floor of the space station.
I had given the duo the normal tour guide experience, trying my best to try and make it as interesting as possible. However no matter how hard I tried, one can only do so much to make a research station interesting, especially if you weren't a researcher.
"This place is meant to be designed for researchers after all," Dan Heng quips. While he may not be overly interested by the space station, he was at least attentive and did ask questions on anything that caught his interest.
"This place was made to maximize research potential." I said as I led them through a hallway that had a glass wall, allowing passerbyers to observe experiments in the making. "Unless you're a researcher but even then I doubt this station is someone's idea of fun."
"You sound as if you are speaking from experience." March commented as we passed by a researcher transporting a cage with a wubbaboo in it.
"Well after living on this station for a while now the awe of it kind of fades away." I replied. "Don't get me wrong, this place is a marvel but I'm not really into all of this science stuff anyway."
"I imagine the days here can get rather monotonous then if that's the case," Dan Heng said.
"There are times that it's felt like that. The closest major thing that has happened on this station when I was employed was a meeting with some of the other Genius Society Members." That had almost turned into a logistical disaster as the notice for such an event had been given on such a short notice.
Thankfully all of the station's departments had stepped up and we avoided embarrassing ourselves in front of the top geniuses of the universe.
"Still the benefits and the salary more than make up for it," I added as we walked into the floor's main lobby where station personnel and researchers were meandering about.
"But other than that there's nothing much that happens on this-!"
I was sharply cut off when the station suddenly violently shook, so much so that I had to grab onto the wall to prevent myself from falling to the ground. The other people in the room were not as lucky as they were sent sprawling to the floor.
After a few more seconds passed the shaking stopped, prompting concern and panic to begin forming in the people present at the suddenness of what just happened.
"What in the-" I said as I tried to figure out what was happening. My question would soon be answered when the speakers of the space station began to repeat a message.
A message that I thought I would never hear.
[Warning: All personnel seek shelter. Warning the Space Station is under attack. Please seek the closest shelter.]
Panic instantly broke out as people began to run to the exits, trying to reach the closest safety bunkers that were littered all throughout the station in case of a situation like these.
As chaos and panic spread in the lobby I brought out my tablet which allowed me some access to the entire space station. Nothing that would allow me to abuse the systems, but enough access that would give me a hint of what the hell was going on.
"Who in their goddamn right mind would-!" I trailed off as I accessed the station's cameras and saw a grim sight. Every camera I had access to showed as researchers fled and security personnel clashed with an enemy that I was aware of existed in this universe.
The Anti-Matter Legion.
The lunatic cult that worshiped Nanook, the Aeon of Destruction.
The Legion wanted nothing more than to spread the same destruction their Aeon presided over, annihilating anything and everything that moved. Entire civilizations fell to the Anti-Matter Legion and even to this day they were still a major threat to entire galaxies and corporations like the IPC.
So for them to be attacking the space station was definitely bad news.
"What's happening?" Dang Heng asked as he and March walked up to me, weapons in hand. He wielded a spear while his fellow Trailblazer had a bow and arrow.
"Anti-Matter Legion." I frowned as my tablet was blowing up with alerts and warnings, so much so it was almost impossible to try and get any form of message through. "Though it's strange cause they've never glanced our way even once."
"But aren't they all about the destruction of everything?" March asked with a confused look.
"The Anti-Matter Legion knows that open warfare with major organizations or groups will be costly." Dan Heng spoke up. "That's why they usually go for small targets."
"Which makes this even weirder cause not only will they gain the attention of the IPC, they also gain the attention of at least three Genius Society members." I said as I tried to think what the whole point of this attack was.
It couldn't be random, there were way too many troops attacking the station for this just to be a simple careless attack by the legion. There was something more to this attack.
But what?
"This Space Station doesn't really possess anything of use that I could think the Legion would want so why would they-!" I muttered to myself before I was cut short by something.
The air in the lobby began to warp and within seconds multiple Voidrangers materialized all around us. The armored looking denizens of the Anti-Matter Legion brandished their weapons as they looked at us in the lobby with killing intent.
Instantly Dan Heng and March 7th sprung into action. The black haired teenager skewered the closest void ranger with his spear, killing it instantly. Meanwhile March nocked some arrows and began to pelt any floating void rangers with arrows.
One of the Voidrangers tried to target one of the defenseless researchers that had gotten stuck in the lobby but was quickly stopped when a bullet was shot into its head. The void ranger turned its head to identify where the bullets had come from but a couple of more bullets to the head had it dropping to the ground, lifeless.
And there I was, standing away from it with a pistol in my hands. The pistol was nothing special, just the standard issue that the security staff of the station were all equipped with.
Was it definitely odd that I, a mere manager, had access to a firearm? It was considering that my job was the farthest thing from being in a position of danger.
But seeing how my old life had ended, I decided that I would not be unarmed if I couldn't help it.
So after some extensive tests and rigorous training by the Security Department I was cleared to carry the pistol on my body.
"You don't harm my colleagues on my watch," I said with a dark expression as I grabbed another clip of ammo from my body, reloaded my pistol, and pointed it at the closest Voidranger and pressed the trigger.
While my pistol was certainly helpful, the real danger to the Legion in the lobby was Dan Heng and March 7th. The two Trailblazers were far from defenseless, showing just how skilled they were with their weapons as they cleaned up the voidrangers with practiced efficiency.
Being a Nameless must mean knowing your way around a fight then.
It didn't take long for the lobby to be cleared of the Legion, their remains turning to ash as I turned to the scared researchers who hadn't managed to escape during the chaos.
"Go," I ordered them as I holstered my pistol. "The main elevator is just that way."
The researchers thanked us before scrambling to the safety of the main elevator where it would take them back to the Master Control Floor, the safest place on this station at the moment.
"You two okay?" I asked as I turned back to Dan Heng and March 7th as they approached me.
"We're alright," Dan Heng answered before he looked at my holstered pistol. "I didn't know the station workers were allowed to carry firearms."
"Let's just say…" I trailed off as my mind began to reminisce of a different time where life wasn't always like this…
Of that dark night…
That feeling when I-!
I shook my head, barely resisting the urge to scowl at the memory surfacing as I pushed it down. "I just don't like to be without a weapon anymore." I said with a tone of finality, wanting to drop the subject.
Thankfully I was able to hide my mood when I saw the two trailblazers nod and the subject was hence dropped.
"If the Legion is attacking that means nowhere on the station is safe from them, we have to get back to Himeko." The black haired teenager said before he looked at me. "Do you know the quickest route back?
"Yeah I do," I replied with a grim expression before motioning them to follow. "Follow me."
I ran ahead with the two following behind as I led the two to the shortest path to get back to the elevator. Thankfully we weren't stalled by any more voidrangers, no doubt they were still preoccupied by the active defenses of the space station.
How long they would hold to a Anti-Matter Legion assault however was a whole other story. While Arlan and his department were trained fairly well, that didn't mean much to Nanook's personal army that destroyed entire worlds.
So to avoid getting overrun by them it was imperative that we got back to the Master Control Floor as soon as possible, the safest place for anyone on the station right now.
However, before I could open the door that would have eventually led us to the catwalk connected to this floor's main elevator, an urgent alert sounded from my tablet.
"Huh," I said as I stopped and brought out my tablet.
"What's wrong?" Dan Heng asked.
"A distress signal." I said with a furrowed brow as I looked at the location of where it was coming from. "And it's on the same floor as us."
"Well what are we waiting for! We have to save whoever sent out that signal!" March 7th said.
Dan Heng backed up his fellow trailblazer. "Agreed, it would be unwise to leave someone defenseless against the Anti-Matter Legion."
"Alright follow me." I said as I began to lead them away from the main elevator and towards the distress signal. As we ran through the now empty halls, we were confronted by Voidrangers that began to appear in mass.
No doubt they were able to slip through the outward defenses to get inside the station.
Not wanting to get bogged down by fighting we simply ran through them, only fighting those that were persistent in getting our way.
The distress signal was pinging from one of the many Curio Vaults that were located throughout the space station. This vault in particular housed the curios that Herta herself had taken a particular interest to, which made it all the more strange that a distress signal was coming from within said vault.
"Wait," I said as I suddenly stopped right in front of the Curio Vault's doors, prompting both the two trailblazers to stop as well.
Something felt off…
My gut feeling was proven right when behind the closed doors a bright light was seemingly leaking out of it, and it was growing brighter with each passing second we stood there.
"Look out!" March yelled as the bright light suddenly flared up, enveloping our entire field of vision. All three of us were barely able to throw our arms up, saving our eyes from possibly being blinded for life.
After what felt like an eternity of being bathed in light it finally died down. I lowered my hands and looked around, confusion on my face when I noticed nothing out of the ordinary.
"What was that?" March asked in confusion as she looked down at her body, looking to see if anything had affected her. The general consensus was that everyone was fine, no injuries and no weird changes had happened to us.
"I don't know but I don't plan on sticking around to find out." I said as I walked up to the vault door and swiped my ID, opening it up for us. "Let's find this person, and get the hell out of here before we get swarmed by any more Voidrangers."
Entering the vault at first glance there seemed to be nothing wrong. All of the curios on the pedestals were still there, no signs of them being tampered with were visible. At the end of the curios was an open door that led to a room.
From a glance it looked as if the room was meant to hold something, evident by the strange contraption that was at the center of the room. What was being held here I had no idea, only Herta knew what was inside of her private vault.
And not far from the center of the room, slumped on a wall was a female gray haired teenager who looked to be the same age as March 7th and Dan Heng.
"Is she…dead?" March asked with a concerned expression on her face as we walked up to the comatose teenager, the female trailblazer kneeling beside her.
"No, it looks like she's still breathing." I said as I noticed the small rise and falls of her chest.
"Was she the one who sent out the distress signal?" Dan Heng asked me.
"Highly unlikely, you have to be registered with the Space Station to be able to send one out and I've never seen this person in my life." I checked my tablet, frowning when the distress signal seemingly originated from this person.
"Yet there's no one else here," I gave the room a quick look over again, wanting to see if there was something else we missed. Yet aside from whatever could've been held in the center of this room, there was nothing else that could give a clue to what had happened.
And the only person here that could give a possible explanation was currently unconscious.
"Who cares," The bubbly pink haired teenager retorted as she motioned to the unconscious girl. "They're here and alive, that's all that matters,"
Dan Heng walked up and knelt, placing his fingers on the unconscious teenager's neck. After a few seconds the trailblazer frowned. "...Weak heartbeat and pulse…March, you do better CPR,"
"Huh?! Hehe…I've never done it before! Dan Heng you do it!" The other trailblazer deflected, cheeks red at the thought of doing CPR.
I sighed at the two of them, interrupting before they did something stupid. "Are both of you actually even trained to do CPR?"
And to my suspicion the both of them shook their heads,
"Alright, stand back I'll do it." I say as I approach the unresponsive girl. CPR training was practically mandatory to work on the station, alongside a few other helpful skills that I didn't think I would use till now.
However before I could place the comatose teenager on her back to perform CPR she suddenly started stirring.
"Wait, she's awake!" March spoke up as she pulled my shoulder back just as the gray haired teeanger opened her eyes, revealing a mix of brown and golden colored eyes.
"You okay?" The female trailblazer asked as she crouched right next to the gray haired teenager, who was taking in her surroundings with a hint of confusion. "Can you tell us who you are?"
The teenager opened her mouth to answer, only to shake her head with a confused expression on her face. Her eyes looked lost and I internally winced at what that could only mean.
Amnesia.
March came to the same conclusion as she lightly frowned. "That's no good, can you try a bit harder?"
The gray haired closed her eyes as she tried to remember her name. After a few moments of silence I was about to interject and say that it was fine if she couldn't remember who she was.
However I was beaten to the punch when the gray haired teenager opened her eyes back up, a look of clarity in her eyes.
"Stelle, My name is Stelle" She said at last.
"Stelle? Nice to meet you. My name's Dan Heng and this is March 7th." The black haired trailblazer introduced as March waved a hand in greeting.
"My name is Michael, a Resource Manager of Herta's Space Station." I introduced myself. "The station is currently under the attack of the Anti-Matter Legion and right now we're trying to make it back to the main lobby."
As if to support my words the station shook once more. Seems the Anti-Matter Legion weren't pulling their punches in this attack as another set of warning messages began to play through the speakers.
"No doubt we might have to fight our way back to the elevator. Can you fight?" I asked her.
The girl slowly nodded her head which made me nod my head. A person who could fight was better than someone who couldn't in this situation.
"Take this." I said as I went back to Herta's curio collection and noticed a curio that looked like a baseball bat. Walking over the bat shaped curio I grabbed the bat from its pedestal and returned back to the trio and tossed it at Stelle. The amnesiac caught the bat with ease and gave it a few practice swings, showing that she really did know how to use a weapon.
"But isn't this Herta's?" March asked with a worried tone. "Won't she be mad if she takes it?"
"If Herta actually cared about it then I shouldn't just be able to take it." I say as I check my tablet for any new updates on the station's condition. "And if she wants to punish me I'll deal with that."
In all honesty I'm pretty sure even if the space station got destroyed I doubt that Herta would be too angry. She'd probably just shrug her shoulders and just build a new one. There were very few things that got under her skin.
And losing this baseball bat curio would probably go unnoticed.
"Now let's get going before we get swarmed by the Anti-Matter Legion." I said as I began to lead the now group of four back to the main elevator.
On the way we encountered more voidrangers that had managed to get past the station's defenses but with the four of us our combined firepower was more than enough to deal with anything that got in our way.
True to Stelle's words she knew how to fight, quite effectively might I say as she put enough strength into her baseball bat to cave in the skulls of any voidrangers that unfortunately got too close to her.
We passed through more empty hallways, the researchers and staff on this floor most likely having been able to get away before the Anti-Matter Legion had managed to get inside the station.
As we made our way to the elevator the four of us made a stop at the control station of the floor and were greeted by the sight of a familiar person.
"Arlan? You look like you've seen better days." I said as Arlan was currently on the ground, resting his back on a pillar. His greatsword was lying on the ground next to him, its steel edge sporting scorch marks from fighting against the warriors of the Anti-Matter Legion
"It sure feels like that." The young tanned man winced as he cradled his dominant arm. Judging by how he held the arm and how his left leg was badly bandaged up, it was safe to say that he wasn't in the best of conditions.
"How come you didn't go back like everyone else did?" March asked with some concern.
"I was supposed to cover everyone's retreat, I…I failed that." Arlan looked to the ground in shame.
"Don't be too hard on yourself." I spoke up as I grabbed a first aid kit and began to properly bandage his wounds. "Most of the people on this floor were able to make it back to the master floor and I know that it was only possible because of you."
"That and your dominant hand and leg were injured, it makes sense to hide and avoid a head on encounter with the Legion." Dan Heng added as he joined in helping bandage the tanned teenager's wounds.
"That's…good to hear." Arlan smiled despite the pain he was feeling.
"Yeah now we need to head back and plan our counterattack!" March spoke up optimistically.
"Sounds like a plan." Stelle added, having remained silent until this very moment.
After bandaging up Arlan with what we had available we began to make our way to the main elevator. Thankfully it wasn't far from where we were and once we got in we could be on our way back to safety.
Stepping onto the bridge that was connected to the elevator I was able to spy something moving out of the corner of my eye.
Up on an elevated position, at an angle that gave it the perfect line of sight, was a large gray quadruple legged Voidranger nocking a large energy arrow directly at us.
And I knew from watching various videos about the Anti-Matter Legion that the arrow had enough power to punch right through solid steel.
"Watch out!" I yelled out as I tackled the nearest person, who was March 7th, out of the way. I was just in time as the moment we both hit the ground the spot we had been just on had been destroyed by the voidranger's arrow, taking that part of the walkway out as well.
"T-Thanks for that, I owe you one." March thanked me as we both stood up.
"No worries," I frowned as I checked my body to make sure I hadn't gotten injured. Once I made sure I had no injuries I looked back to where we had just been standing. "Though it looks like we won't be able to make it to the elevator now."
In my attempt to save myself and March I had to push the both of us back to the platform that the bridge had been connected to. Our only way to the main elevator was now destroyed and there weren't any other viable options for the two of us as either destroyed doors or debris had blocked the fastest alternative routes to the main elevator.
And if that quadruple legged Voidranger had reinforcements then the two of us would no doubt get swarmed by them if we tried to regroup with the rest of the group.
"We'll go for one of the other elevators!" I shouted as the quadruple legged voidranger jumped down to face Dan Heng, Stelle, and Arlan. "We'll see you back at the master control floor!"
I began to lead March 7th towards one of the sub elevators the floor had as Dan Heng and Stelle faced off against the voidranger. A part of me wanted to stay back and help, as both me and March had ranged weaponry that could provide assistance.
However without the rest of the group we could not afford to get bogged down by fighting the Legion that were beginning to appear inside the station. So unless absolutely necessary me and March avoided what fights we could.
Which was easier said than done as voidrangers began to appear en masse. It was only my knowledge of the station's layout that the two of us were able to avoid any large group of voidrangers.
After running through numerous corridors and evading more than one close call the two of us finally arrived on one of the auxiliary elevators that every floor had. Aside from each floor having a main elevator there were auxiliary elevators that could be used. These were mostly out of convenience as only having one elevator on the space station would lead to congestion every time.
"Alright we found the elevator!" March cheered as I swiped my ID code and called down an elevator to pick us up. Luckily for us there was no voidranger lurking about to ambush us.
The elevator soon came down and the two of us stepped onto it. I swiped my ID card as the doors closed and waited for the elevator to bring us back to the Master Control Floor, where everyone would be waiting.
A plan would be made to repel the Anti-Matter Legion, everything would be resolved, and normalcy would be restored.
Except after swiping my card and the indicator lighting up green…nothing happened.
I tried again, and again nothing happened.
"...Um, something is supposed to happen?" March 7th asked me confusingly as she looked at the elevator for it to start moving.
"It should," I said as I tilted my head in confusion. This was most definitely strange. "It confirmed it and everything. Maybe give it a sec to move-"
The elevator then began to move, dispelling both of our worries as we gave a sigh of relief.
Everything was going to be alright now.
.
.
.
The elevator only moved up an inch before, without warning, plunged straight down. The rails of the elevator were screeching as it tried to stop its descent but to no avail.
All March and I could do was scream as the elevator plunged into the bottom of the Space Station, blanketing us into darkness.
The sound of static and garbled warning messages was what eventually woke me up. Weakly opening my eyes, I found myself staring at the roof of a very damaged elevator. My entire body was sore as the impact of the elevator had no doubt been very forceful on the body.
With a groan I slowly pushed my body up, taking in the state of the elevator that had brought us down here. Wrecked was an understatement as it was in no way of being operable in the near future.
It was only the innate failsafes that every elevator had in them that saved us from being crushed when the elevator eventually slammed onto the last floor.
"What happened?" March asked as she held her head with wince. There was no blood coming out of her head, which meant that she might have gotten a light concussion.
"March are you okay?" I asked as I stood up and offered a hand to her.
"Yeah," The trailblazer reassured as she took my hand and got back on her feet.
"Where are we?" She asked as she looked around.
"That…is a very good question." I said as I looked around to a very unfamiliar floor. Despite the fact that it was almost pitch black the layout of this floor was completely unfamiliar to me. "One I don't know the answer to."
"I thought you worked here!" March 7th looked at me incredulously.
"I do!" I defended as I crossed my arms, an embarrassed blush on my face. "It's just that there are some places on the station that even I don't have access to."
And that was true, there were many parts of the space station that not even the heads of the departments were allowed access to. They usually pertained to Herta's experiments or places that some other Genius Society members used as their labs whenever they came to the station.
But I wasn't even sure this basement showed up in the schematics of this station, at least the ones that the staff of the station had access to at the moment.
As we stepped out of the remains of the elevator that had brought us here it was clear that this place was abandoned. The floors were dirty with trash and dust, the electronic displays on the walls were all either off or full of static, and the very feeling this floor was abandoned seemed to roll off every surface.
And to add to the atmosphere the lights of the floor were seemingly deactivated, with only the red emergency lights and some small windows to allow some light from the galaxy outside of the station illuminating the place.
"I-I'm getting creeped out," The pink haired teenager shivered as she hugged her arms, eyes watching the shadows for anything that might potentially jump out at them. "H-How do we get out of here?"
The base shook after her words, reminding us that despite everything we were still under attack from the Anti-Matter Legion.
Which made getting back to everyone all the more crucial.
"Every floor has more than one elevator, even this one." I reminded her as I pulled out my tablet, to try and see if I could find some sort of schematic we could use. However I quickly frowned when I saw that the screen of it was cracked and no longer turning on,
Probably broken during the elevator crash then.
I quickly tossed the now broken tablet away. "Since we were using one of the auxiliary elevators, that means the main one should be here as well. Let's find it for our ticket out of here."
The two of us then began to search for another elevator to use. The good thing was that all of the elevators were normally on the same spot on every floor. And living on this station for quite awhile I had a good sense for knowing where to go to find them.
The only complication was that since the floor was not in maintenance that meant some of the doors either weren't working, or there was too much junk for me and March to move out of the way. This resulted in us having to backtrack and find another way forward.
And the more we walked through the darkened corridors of this mysterious floor, the more evident it became that it was not abandoned as we once thought it was. Whether it be the fact that there was some functioning, albeit in poor condition, station bots that were normally tasked with maintaining the floor they were on.
Any attempts to gain answers was met with garbled speech as the robots seemingly were only able to follow their most basic functions.
There was also the fact that the on floor's biological preservation system was somehow still running, meaning at least someone was keeping this place active.
But who and what reason would they need to have an entire floor to themselves?
"To serve as some kind of hatchery?" I muttered to myself as we walked past a row of incubator tubes. They were all empty, though some of the tubes had their glass shattered as if something had broken whatever was in them free…
Or rather something had broken itself out.
But what?
That was not to mention the foreboding feeling that we were being watched. I wasn't the only one to notice this as March also felt the same thing as we both eyed the shadows suspiciously. Yet whenever the both of us looked behind us all we would see was just darkness.
Maybe the paranoia of the place and its creepiness was getting to us.
It also didn't help that the occasional shaking and the sound of explosions from the station's battle with the Anti-Matter Legion only added to this foreboding feeling.
Fortunately despite all of this we eventually made progress to a point that the floor was getting more and more familiar to me with what knowledge I had. Eventually after navigating this dark labyrinth the two of us stood in front of a door I believed would get us out of here.
"Shit the door's locked." I cursed as the ID scanner of the door refused to accept my ID card, blinking in red in confirmation. If my intuition was right then this door would've led us to a corridor that should've been connected to one of the auxiliary elevators.
But since the door refused to budge, that meant backtracking our steps and wasting more time yet again.
"Hey isn't that an elevator?" March asked me, prompting me to turn back and see that she was looking through a crack in the wall that was barely holding itself together. Walking up to her I peered into the crack and I saw what she was referring to.
From the way we were walking in this labyrinth I assumed there was some sort of central chamber that everything revolved around. I was proven correct when I peered into the crack and saw a massive chamber.
What this chamber was or held I had no idea as all of the lights in the chamber, even the emergency ones, were all either deactivated or broken. The only way I even knew the chamber was in there was on the opposite side of where we were looking through, the faint lights of a large lift were visible to us.
"It's just a transport lift, only to bring supplies to this chamber and not one that would take us back up." I informed March as I strained my eye vision for any more details.
"But where there's a lift like that there's the main elevator that is bound to be nearby." There was a similar design with the resource lift connected to the Railway Platform. And if this floor followed the same design principles, then our ticket out of here was close at hand!
March and I looked at each other before nodding, the end of our ordeal close at hand.
With a new destination in mind March and I carefully opened the hole in the wall to ensure that the both of us could fit through it. After shimming our body through the new opening we carefully traversed the rubble to get to the center of the chamber. The lack of any lights made it hard to navigate and made it
But the low ambient lights of the lift on the other end were bright enough to guide the two of us forward.
The light also gave us a hint to just how large this chamber was. Looking up, the light barely illuminated the ceiling, which was so far above us that I couldn't help but wonder…
What was this chamber supposed to be in the first place if it was this big?
My thoughts were swiftly interrupted when I felt something crack underneath my foot.
"Ew…" March made a disgusted face when she heard my foot make a squelching sound. "I think you stepped on something Michael."
I stopped in my tracks and looked down at my feet. The smoke that perpetrated the chamber made it impossible to see what I stepped on.
"Huh?" I said as I lifted my foot up and inspected what was on it. It was like I had stepped onto a yellow sap-like substance. Sort of like the sticky substance that would be secreted when something was born.
A pit began to form in my stomach as my mind began to piece things together.
"That's strange," I said as I took a closer look at the floor, noticing the various broken glass shards around us. I kept looking and saw even bigger chunks of glass all around us.
March noticed what I was looking at and began to notice we were surrounded by broken pieces of glass, the yellow sap like substance dripping from the shattered edges.
The two of us came to the same conclusion as we both looked up, now noticing the remnants of what looked to be a massive incubator. The size of the incubator and the sappy-like substance dripping from it was proof that that was where it all originated from.
And judging by how sticky the fluid was that meant that something had been occupying that incubator recently. But that begged the question…
Where the heck was it then?
At that moment shadow passed over the two of us…
And a massive cloud of dust was kicked up as something large landed right behind the both of us, a set of glowing blue eyes peering through the smoke.
With looks of shock and horror March and I turned around just as the smoke cloud cleared to reveal a massive, flying, blue carapace beetle. The massive bug towered over us, its mandible claw mandibles looking like it could shred right through solid steel.
The bug reared its head back and angrily screeched at us, shaking us out of our shock as we realized that we were in danger.
"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT!" March yelled as she fired an arrow at the massive bug that had just ambushed us. The arrow simply bounced off the bug's thick carapace, clattering uselessly to the ground.
"WHY ARE YOU ASKING ME?! I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THIS FLOOR EXISTED TILL NOW!" I shouted back as I unholstered my pistol and aimed it at the bug. However before I could aim my pistol at the armored bug I noticed something very important.
For in the small time frame it took to take my pistol and aim it at the bug…
The blue carapace beetle had a small swarm of lesser sized bugs surrounding it. I watched in equal parts fascination and horror as bugs seemingly spawned from the bug's carapace, flying around it like a bunch of drones.
The fascination faded when this new swarm of bugs began to converge on the two of us, open maws ready to shred us into pieces.
"It can spawn more of them!?" I cursed as I moved my gun to the incoming bugs, trying to whittle down the swarm of bugs descending on us. With them so bunched up together aiming wasn't an issue as my bullets were able to bring some down.
Yet it seems the moment I took care of one bug it seemed like four more came and took its place.
"There's no end to them!" I cursed as I tried my best in taking as much as I could with my pistol. The pink haired Trailblazer was beside me, helping take down bugs with her bow and arrow. Yet despite our combined efforts the swarm just seemingly got larger and larger.
Unfortunately things were turning for the worse as the massive blue bug, who had remained relatively passive, decided to go on the offensive. Raising its position higher into the chamber, it reared its head back as an ominous blue energy began to build between its mandibles.
I didn't need a genius to know what was about to happen.
Aiming my gun away from the horde of bugs surrounding us, I redirected the barrel at the rapidly building orb of death, hoping to cause an explosion that could disorient the bug. I pressed the trigger…
Only for my gun to click, signaling it was out of ammo.
"Dammit," I hissed as I reached for my belt for a spare clip to reload with. However, having diverted my attention I could not properly react when one of the lesser bugs slammed itself into me. The force of the impact was not enough to leave lasting harm, but it was more than enough to throw me to the ground.
Thrown to the ground I still went on to try and reload my pistol. My hand went to my belt where my spare clips were, only for it to pat against an empty belt. Raising my head I soon found where my spare clip of ammunition was…
On the other side of where I was, probably having been thrown in that direction when that bug had slammed into me.
I readied my body to make a mad sprint for the clip, but stopped right as I was about to do so when I heard a feminine shout.
Jerking my head, I saw March being thrown to the ground as two bugs had rammed right into her.
"March!" I yelled before I heard the massive bug screech loudly. Turning back I saw that the bug had fully finished charging its attack. What was once a tiny blue orb was now a seeming black orb contained in a prismatic glass like ball that was almost as big as itself.
I could only watch in muted horror as the bug threw its head forward, lobbing the massive ball of death at us.
Not knowing what came over me I ran over to March and threw my body over hers like a shield as the massive blue bug threw the orb of energy death at us. I was not sure why I did this as my body would offer no protection to what was about to happen but there was no point or time in questioning why I had done it.
"Welp this is it I guess," I thought as I braced myself, and by extension March's body as I tightened my hold on her, for the inevitable experience of having every atom in my body be disintegrated into nothingness. "This life was great all things considered, but it all ends now."
I mentally counted to ten as I awaited for the painful experience of having every atom in my body and dying once again.
Yet strangely it never came as instead of the sound of a giant explosion I heard the sound of glass shattering.
With some hesitation I brought my head up and looked back in the direction the giant energy bomb was coming from, only for my eyes to widen at what I saw.
The energy ball of death was nowhere to be seen as the massive blue bug was writhing in the air, seemingly imploding from within. The beetle twitched erratically in the air as its body began to disintegrate into blue motes of energy.
All I could do was watch as the bug gave off one last horrid screech before its entire body disintegrated into blue motes.
"Huh?" I sighed as I removed my body over March 7th's and flopped to the ground, the exhaustion of going through a life or death situation hitting my body.
"Is it…over?" March asked as she looked around, watching as the smaller bugs that had just been swarming us meet the same fate as the original bug as they exploded into motes of blue light.
"Yeah," I said as I began to stand back up. "Whatever that bug was, it apparently couldn't keep itself alive."
It was the only logical conclusion I could think of pertaining to that bug's fate. It wasn't like either of us had even got to touch it in the first place. Though if that is the case then shouldn't it have died the moment it was free from the incubator?
"Now c'mon," I said as I held a hand for March to take. "We should get on the lift, get to an elevator, and get back before-!"
I sharply turned on my heel as I felt the hairs on my skin stand straight up, the sensation of danger alerting my exhausted body.
Yet all I could see were the blue motes that the massive bug and the smaller ones had disintegrated into and that they began to converge in a single spot in the air, forming a tiny hand size blue orb.
I mentally readied myself for another fight, despite the fact that I had no more ammo for my gun and that March would pretty much be alone to face whatever this new threat was. Was this some sort of ruse to lower our defenses? Or was this some sort of power the bug had? Was something else about to pop out at us?
Yet to my surprise none of that happened as once all the blue motes coalesced into a single orb everything was seemingly calm.
.
.
.
…For a good three seconds before this tiny glowing blue orb, at lightning fast speeds, slammed right into my chest. I couldn't even get a chance to blink or give a shout of surprise as this blue orb of energy sunk into my chest, my body seemingly absorbing the orb in its entirety.
And once the orb was gone, fully inside of my body…
That was when the pain began.
"AAAAH!" I screamed out as pain flooded my every atom. I couldn't even feel my body sink to my knees as I desperately tried to handle the pain that my body was going through. It was like every single atom of my body was on fire, alighting all of my senses in pain.
Dying didn't even hurt this bad for crying out loud!
I could barely hear my screams resounding in the chamber, or the lights turning back on as I clutched my head in an attempt to soothe the indescribable pain I was going through.
All I could do was try to keep myself grounded in reality.
And after what felt like going through an eternity of pain whatever the hell was happening to my body finally finished. Panting in equal parts exhaustion and pain I could see my vision beginning to blacken as I could feel my entire body shutting down from what it had just gone through.
The last thing I saw was March yelling my name out in worry as she reached out to me before my body fell and head smacked hard into the floor, the blissful void of nothingness embracing me.
Little did I know that in that moment, a script that had been in eons in the making, a script that would decide the fate of every single living being, both insignificant and significant…
Had been irreversibly changed.
A script…
That I was supposed to have no impact in whatsoever.
Tada here I am with a Honkai Star Rail Self insert/oc reincarnation fanfiction(yes how original of me)
After playing this game since day 1, falling in love with all of the characters, stories, and planets we've been introduced to, I finally gave in and decided to write my own HSR fic.
If you're not familiar with who I am, I like to write stories where I essentially take a giant hammer to the canon, and shatter it and make my own plot. Where characters are introduced earlier than in canon, plotlines diverge, and overall chaos follows in its wake.
It won't be as crazy as my HI3 fic, we really go off the rails on that one, but this story will definitely have its own special twists and plotlines I plan on exploring that should be entertaining for you guys to experience.
And for those who read 'An Unexpected Impact' no this story is not in the same universe. I know some of you guys were expecting my HI3 fic to be related to it but honestly I wanted to do something different.
I also didn't want Michael to know the actual plot of HSR(Even if he did it would only make things more complicated as we only have a vague idea of what the endgame is) and I kind of like the trope of throwing regular person into the plot and see what ripples happen…
And what delicious cliffhangers can I make?
As for the chapter itself, how was it? Was it a good first chapter? Were the characterizations right or was someone a bit too OOC? Always happy to take feedback to improve on my writing.
Update Schedule is kind of fucked this fall semester. Full load so its hard to devote enough time to plan and write chapters. Probably a bad idea to start a fic in such a busy schedule but I honestly wanted to get this out so here it is.
Welp that's all for this chapter. If you enjoyed it, drop a fav/follow/kudos as they really help me out with creating great chapters. Reviews are deeply appreciated, they're the biggest motivation to keep writing, and if you have a question or a really interesting theory I am more than happy to reply. Please be patient if I don't respond to you super fast. Even if I don't respond to your comment for whatever reason, know that I read each and every one of them! PMing me is the best way for me to respond to your questions.
Also follow my twitter account ChaldeaLord for any potential updates.
Peace!
